Denzil Thomas came to the rescue of the Seniors' captain last Thursday. At least five members from the team listed to play Neath had phoned in to say they were unavailable, which left Dave tearing his hair out (or what is left of it!). Undaunted, he acquired a buggy and drove around the course looking for senior volunteers who were enjoying their Tuesday roll-up.

Denzil was on the course, as usual, and he and his partner, David Rees, were persuaded to step into the breech. It didn't take much persuading since this match was at his old stamping ground, Neath, a place where he is always assured of a warm welcome. Owen Monaghan and 'uncle' Jim Taylor were also enlisted and a call on Bart Youll on his way home meant that Dave had a full complement.

Of course, a few of the team were out to redress the balance, having lost to the Neath team in the South Wales Classic. Dave was the first of those and he thought that if he enlisted the help of the best 25-handicapper in Wales he might succeed. Sadly, Derek Bath could not save him from another drubbing, this time at the hands of Colin Lloyd and Mervyn Rees. Dave declared that the Christmas turkey came to mind as they were stuffed. The two local lads demonstrated how to play par golf, which would have been birdies had they been able to putt, on their home course. Mervyn scored a gross 40 on the front nine to demoralise Dave and Derek, who never recovered.

John Hancock was another looking for revenge and, with the help of Roy Gundry, he just managed to achieve it.

"I only said - (what was that word again Roy?) - 40 times in the first four holes and then behaved myself," said Roy with his impish grin. It was just enough to put the opposition off as they all enjoyed an excellent game, played in the best of spirit, against the Hopkin boys, Phil and Jeff.

John was delighted to achieve a first as this was the only time he has birdied the first hole on the Neath course (but not the last we hope!). Roy was pleased not to shank a ball this week, but he did find that the greens were a bit too close for his second shots.

Jim Martin played like Tiger Woods this week! What he meant was that he only used his irons on this course. He must have had some success, since he and Clifton John outflanked Terry Lewis and Basil Jones in a very close match.

They went from two down after four holes to gain a three-hole lead after 13. Basil was the high handicapper on the Neath side and his steady play kept them in contention all afternoon. Clfton weighed in with some good golf and between them the Tenby pair held out for a win.

Just behind them and again turning the tables was Martin Neilan, accompanied by Jim Taylor, who had a very solid game. The big grin on Jim's face was a giveaway as he declared that he had hit every fairway in their victory over Mervyn Morgan and Norman Bater. And what's more, he didn't lose a ball - or a tee!

Mervyn and Norman found the Tenby pair irrepressible as Martin came in to win a hole when Jim needed him.

"Brian was the star today, he par-ed all the par three holes and kept us in contention," said Newman, as he and Brian Waters struggled to keep up with Alan Phillips and Dave Williams. Between them, the Neath pair par-ed three of the first four holes and continued in like manner to find themselves dormie-six after 12 holes.

They must have relaxed, as Brian and Newman fought back by winning the next three holes and hoped that a sudden surge would carry them home. Alan and Dave recovered and closed out the match. "We were well turned over!" was Owen Monaghan's comment in that inimitable scouse accent. "The two Daves were on form; I'm just glad there wasn't three of them!"

Dave Matthews and David Lewis established an early lead and refused to concede to Owen and John Cook. J.C. was ecstatic when he achieve a par on one hole, but disappointed that it was not good enough to win it, such was the excellence of the home pair's play.

Bart Youll was quite frustrated as he listened to advice and then found himself through the green on the 18th. Alan Yates, who remembered that it was Wednesday this week, came up short with his putt on the same hole and they ended up halving it and just losing their match against John Solly and Brin Thomas. Although they were always behind, they were hopeful of halving the match as they had fought back from three down with three to play, with the result resting on the last hole.

Geoff Aston and Brian Morgan both mis-hit their drives on the 18th and as a result found themselves in poor position. This was disappointing as they had played well against Robert Jones and Mike Bradley.

They expressed surprise at the number of times Robert scored birdies off his 19 handicap, but thought that he was a "very nice man anyway." This was a tight match and Brian's iron shots onto or close to the greens helped redress the balance, bringing them back to all-square after 17 holes. The hole and the match slipped away from them as they failed to recover from their poor drives on the last.

J. D. R. and Des Stone lost the first hole on the front nine and also the first hole on the back nine in their match against John Jones and Iorrie Rees. They managed to recover in both halves and emerge the victors in a very close encounter with seven holes halved.

There were some indifferent shots from each player in turn, but it was the Tenby pair who just managed to maintain the lead on the home run. J. D. R.'s par on the 17th was the deciding factor in a match played in great spirit.

The outcome of the day depended on the last match in and everyone waited with bated breath for the arrival of Denzil and Dave. If they won it would be five games each. Any other result would be in Neath's favour.

Denzil's arrival was greeted with loud applause by both Neath and Tenby players. Had the Neath boy favoured the home of his rugby career or his adopted home of Tenby. On this occasion he informed the gathering that they had been "hammered", because Ron Matthews and Colin Jones had played out of their skins.

Disappointment? No - everyone had enjoyed the day in glorious sunshine and were just happy to be in each others company.

Results: D. Morgan and D. Bath lost to C. Lloyd and M. Rees 7 and 6; D. Stone and J. D. R. Williams beat J. Jones and I. Rees 2 and 1; B. Waters and N. Vincent lost to A. Phillips and D. Williams 4 and 2; O. Monaghan and J. Cook lost to D. Matthews and D. Lewis 4 and 3; B. Youll and A. Yates lost to J. Solly and B. Thomas 1 hole; J. Hancock and R. Gundry beat P. Hopkins and J. Hopkins 5 and 4; G. Aston and B. Morgan lost to R. Jones and M. Bradley 1 hole; J. Martin and C. John beat T. Lewis and B. Jones 2 and 1; J. Taylor and M. Neilan beat M. Morgan and N. Bater 4 and 3; D. Thomas and D. Rees lost to R. Matthews and C. Jones 6 and 5.